Mid Level Business Operations Manager Jobs

INTRODUCTION

Aqua-Tots Swim Schools – Lexington, KY
Full-Time | 32 Hours/Week | Hybrid | $21–$23/Hour
Supporting our Lexington (Ruccio Way) and Hamburg locations

Meaningful Responsibility. Real Flexibility. A Job That Makes a Difference. Are you an experienced administrative or operations professional who enjoys solving problems, helping customers, and keeping a business running smoothly? Are you someone who takes ownership, follows through, and doesn't need a manager creating your daily to-do list? Aqua-Tots Swim Schools is seeking a highly organized, proactive Customer & Business Operations Manager to support our two Lexington-area swim schools. This is a unique opportunity for an experienced professional who wants meaningful responsibility, a flexible hybrid schedule, and the satisfaction of helping a family-owned business thrive. You'll report directly to our Director of Operations and independently manage key customer experience, account management, reporting, inventory, purchasing, and administrative functions across both locations. Your work will allow our school leadership to spend more time developing employees, building culture, hiring great people, and growing our schools. Our philosophy is simple: You don't just identify problems—you own them through resolution.

ROLE AND RESPONSIBILITIES

Customer Experience & Retention

You'll play a meaningful role in helping families have a positive experience with Aqua-Tots and resolving concerns before they become lost customers. Responsibilities include:
- Proactively contacting families who submit withdrawal notices to understand their concerns and identify opportunities to retain their enrollment
- Helping families resolve billing, scheduling, membership, and service-related issues
- Managing routine customer complaints and service-recovery opportunities
- Making timely customer-service decisions within established company guidelines
- Monitoring Listen360 customer feedback and online reviews
- Identifying recurring concerns and opportunities to improve the customer experience
- Coordinating with school leadership when additional information or intervention is needed
- Maintaining ownership of customer issues through resolution, even when another team member becomes involved
- Supporting recovery of unresolved customer opportunities and stalled leads when appropriate

Our Front Desk teams maintain primary responsibility for new lead follow-up and enrollment. Your focus will be customer retention, recovery, and situations requiring additional attention.

Billing & Account Management

- Manage failed-payment follow-up and outstanding account issues
- Complete and maintain our Trouble Accounts Report
- Identify and resolve billing, membership, and scheduling discrepancies
- Administer 30-day withdrawal notices and associated customer communication
- Maintain accurate customer records and document resolutions
- Ensure account-related issues are addressed promptly and professionally

Reporting & Business Administration

- Pull information from our POS system and business dashboards
- Maintain recurring tracking spreadsheets and operational reports
- Prepare accurate information for school leadership
- Participate in appropriate weekly Level 10 operational meetings
- Track administrative projects and action items through completion
- Assist our Director of Operations with administrative documentation and HR-related support
- Identify opportunities to improve processes, organization, and efficiency across both locations

Inventory, Purchasing & Vendor Management

You will own the inventory and routine purchasing processes for both schools. This includes:
- Regularly assessing inventory and operating-supply needs at both locations
- Maintaining appropriate stock levels for lesson supplies, customer merchandise, retail products, uniforms, break-room supplies, cleaning supplies, restroom supplies, and other school necessities
- Managing purchases through approved vendors and company purchasing procedures
- Completing local purchasing and pickup errands as needed
- Ensuring supplies are received, organized, and appropriately stocked
- Coordinating outside vendors and recurring services
- Establishing and managing processes for laundering cleaning equipment and maintaining adequate clean replacement inventory
- Identifying supply or equipment problems and developing reliable solutions

School leadership will provide input on operational needs, but you will be responsible for ensuring routine purchasing and inventory processes are completed consistently.

A Flexible Hybrid Work Environment

This position is designed for an experienced professional who values flexibility while maintaining meaningful responsibility. The regular schedule is 32 hours per week, with full-time benefits eligibility. You'll typically spend one day each week supporting our Lexington school and one day supporting our Hamburg school. Each onsite day will generally include approximately 4–5 hours in the school during active operating hours, along with any necessary purchasing, pickups, or other location-related errands. Your onsite presence is intended to help you understand how each school operates, communicate with leadership, assess inventory and facility needs, and identify issues requiring attention. The remainder of your work may generally be performed remotely. We offer significant flexibility in organizing your schedule, but you must maintain reasonable weekday availability for customer communication, leadership collaboration, required meetings, and time-sensitive responsibilities. We value results, responsiveness, accuracy, and follow-through—not simply time spent sitting at a desk.

Operational Training & Support

You'll receive paid, hands-on training in our Front Desk processes, customer-account systems, and school operations, including Pike13. This training will give you the knowledge needed to resolve customer issues, understand the enrollment process, and confidently navigate our business systems. You may occasionally serve as an emergency Front Desk or operational resource when necessary. This is not a regularly scheduled Front Desk position. Your primary responsibility is managing customer and business operations across both schools. Training will be completed locally with our experienced leadership team.

BASIC QUALIFICATIONS

We're looking for someone who has already demonstrated the ability to manage important administrative responsibilities independently. You may be a strong fit if you:
- Have previous experience in office management, business operations, practice management, executive administration, or a similar professional role
- Are exceptionally organized and detail-oriented
- Take initiative without needing constant supervision
- Have successfully managed responsibilities independently or in a remote/hybrid environment
- Communicate confidently and professionally with customers by phone, email, and in person
- Can navigate difficult customer conversations with empathy, sound judgment, and a solutions-oriented approach
- Are comfortable using spreadsheets, reports, dashboards, and business software
- Know how to prioritize multiple responsibilities across different locations
- Follow through until problems and projects are actually resolved
- Are comfortable handling confidential customer and employee information
- Enjoy building systems, identifying opportunities for improvement, and creating consistency

Previous experience in healthcare, childcare, education, hospitality, fitness, retail, professional services, or other customer-focused businesses may translate particularly well. We also welcome experienced professionals returning to the workforce who want meaningful responsibility with a more flexible schedule.

Qualifications

- At least 3 years of relevant professional administrative, operations, office-management, or customer-service experience preferred
- Previous experience independently managing recurring business processes strongly preferred
- Proficiency with Microsoft Office, particularly Excel, Outlook, and Word
- Strong written and verbal communication skills
- Experience with billing, customer-account management, reporting, inventory, or purchasing preferred
- Ability to learn new business software quickly
- Demonstrated reliability, organization, and ability to work independently
- Valid driver's license and reliable transportation for travel between locations and local vendors
- Ability to occasionally lift and carry approximately 25–30 pounds
- Ability to attend occasional regional leadership meetings, typically quarterly

A college degree is not required. Relevant professional experience, sound judgment, and demonstrated ability are more important to us.

COMPENSATION & BENEFITS

We believe meaningful professional work should come with meaningful flexibility and benefits.
- $21–$23/hour, depending on experience
- Full-time position with a regular 32-hour workweek
- Flexible hybrid schedule
- Health insurance eligibility following a 30-day waiting period, subject to applicable plan terms
- Personal PTO: Five days annually during the first year, increasing to 10 days annually after the first anniversary. PTO accrues in accordance with company policy
- Paid company holidays and additional designated paid school closure periods
- Extended winter school closure around Christmas and New Year's
- Regular 32-hour weekly pay maintained during designated paid closure periods, with greater remote-work flexibility and reduced onsite requirements as administrative work continues
- Complimentary Aqua-Tots swim lessons for employees' children
- Eligibility for applicable manager sales incentive contests at both Lexington-area schools
- Paid training and ongoing professional development
- Company-provided laptop, access to our business phone system, and necessary office equipment and supplies
- Company purchasing access for approved business expenses
- Reimbursement for approved business mileage

How Our Paid School Closures Work

During designated paid school closures, your regular pay is maintained while administrative responsibilities continue at a reduced pace. You'll have greater flexibility to work remotely, complete projects, support customer needs, and help prepare both schools for reopening. Onsite requirements are reduced during these periods, and designated paid closure time does not deduct from your personal PTO. Our goal is to provide meaningful flexibility around holidays and school closures while ensuring our schools are organized and ready to welcome families back.

Why Aqua-Tots?

At Aqua-Tots, our work has a purpose beyond day-to-day business operations. We help children develop swimming skills, confidence, and lifelong water-safety habits while providing families with a positive, supportive experience. As a family-owned and operated organization, we believe in building strong teams, investing in our employees, and giving capable people the opportunity to take ownership of their work. This position offers the opportunity to become an important part of our leadership support structure without the demands of directly managing a large team of hourly employees. If you're an experienced, organized professional who enjoys helping people, solving problems, and independently managing important business responsibilities, we'd love to hear from you.

Apply today to join our Aqua-Tots Lexington team!

Aqua-Tots Swim Schools is an equal opportunity employer. We welcome qualified applicants of all backgrounds.

For questions and inquiries please contact our talent acquisition team at JoinThayersTots@aqua-tots.com